Two great goals on his starting debut and at 31 it is clear he still has a lot to offer. He has always been an intelligent player, never blessed with blistering pace but we have been reminded of his ability to read and influence the game on numerous occasions at Villa Park over the years so it was nice to see the boot on the other foot yesterday when he ran the show against Wolves!
I remember in the 98/99 season when we were trying to buy him from Wolves and how excited my mate Jimmy and I were at the prospect of such a talented young player joining us, we were top of the table at the time and flying under Gregory and an addition like this along with Juninho (who was apparently also close to signing) would put us in pole position to cement our challenge for our first Premiership title. That season he rattled in 16 goals and you could see then he would go on to become top draw.
You can imagine the disappointment when the rumours went round we had lost out to Coventry for the sake of an extra 500k as Doug didn't feel he was worth the extra cash. So Cov snapped him up for £6m and the great Marcello Lippi picked him up for Inter a year later paying £13m for his services. Of course I am in no doubt that Doug would have also sold him for that sort of money so we would probably only have had him for a year anyway! I know some people have knocked Doug over the years for the way he ran the club but this period will always stand out for me as the one time we could have and should have signed a couple of quality players and become real contenders for the years to come, we were close. So close.
But I digress, 12 years later and 3 well deserved points in the end following a good old fashioned display of determination and commitment spattered with 2 great finishes by the player we should have signed all of those years ago.
I have never been a fan of McCleish and like most Villa fans was gutted when he was appointed, given the ease of our first few fixtures most of us expected us to have more points than we do at the moment but he seems to have the knack of picking up just enough points to keep his head above water without us looking particularly threatening to the rest of the league. But I think he deserves a lot of credit for the performance yesterday, he dropped Warnock on the back of a couple of poor displays (although I would say he is having a decent season), shifted Clark to left back and started Keane, also giving Gary Gardner a start in midfield.
Gary is a player I have watched closely over the past few years from youth, reserves and now finally the 1st team. He reads the game well, gets in good positions, good passing ability and can certainly strike the ball. They way he plays reminds me of the drive and hunger that Gerrard had as a young kid coming through, always getting into space, wanting the ball and making great runs. I am not saying he will be as good as Gerrard was but if he can keep playing his way I expect him to be a big player for us in the future.
So Alex set the team out to attack and we got off to a great start, Bent proving that if you chase down defenders you can reap rewards. After the pen though we dropped off a bit as Wolves bossed the game, Kightly running Clarke ragged on the right and causing him no end of problems until he ran into the box, cut inside and rolled a shot into the bottom corner. I can't really fault the goal, yes Clark should have been tighter on him and certainly been goal side to stop him getting the shot in but he is young and will hopefully learn from these errors. Sometimes though you just get left for dead.
The second goal however highlights what is so frustrating about us this season! the lino (sorry assistant referee) stopped Wolves taking a quick corner, great you think, time to regroup and get organised for the set piece, or not. As the ball comes in everything looks ok, everyone looks like they have been picked up, Collins is behind his man but will get a challenge in, the only danger he could cause with his back to goal being the flick on back onto the back post. Then for some reason Dunne decides to leave his man Edwards and race to help Collins despite the fact he would have to get through two players to get the ball! We know the rest, the ball comes in Dunne leaves Edwards unmarked and the ball is flicked on for Edwards to score.
While you can forgive errors player make (everyone is human) I find an error like Dunne's yesterday simply mind boggling! All season we have been rubbish at defending set pieces and seem to take a schoolboy approach to them. When you know these players are capable of more, it is beyond frustrating.
So half time and Gabby goes off with a sickness bug. Alex to be fair to him identified that Clark was having a tough time, brings Warnock on and pushes Clark into his more familiar midfield role. Warnock did well, shutting down Kightly and we were able to push on in the second half and get the goals we needed. I won't talk too much about Keane's goals other than the fact that they were both excellent finishes, the second one in particular where Keane orchestrated the move from the middle of the park and then hung back on the edge of the box to smash home the winner was simply brilliant to watch. I am sure he will be going back once his loan deal expires but I would be more than happy to keep him on a permanent deal.
The red card was a no brainer for the ref, Marc may have initially fouled Henry (not intentionally I would add) but nothing can excuse his reaction. If you look at the replay Marc is actually lying on the floor with his hands held in the air when Henry lashes out with his heel, he wasn't expecting it nor able to protect himself so I don't think Marc over reacted which is some peoples opinion, let's see Lawro get booted in a surprise attack and see how he reacts, I am sure we could find some people willing to help test the theory.
Looking forward to Arsenal away, Keane being an ex-Spurs player will love to score against them. Just need to see what trains we can get there and back and find a decent away pub so if anyone knows one near the Emirates let me know this week!
UTV
Srathem
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